The New York Archdiocese has known about the extent of child sex abuse in its boundaries for decades. It’s a shame that it’s taken until now for church officials to finally reach out to a small portion of victims who have suffered childhood sexual assault by members of the clergy.

Any step that helps victims on the path to healing should be applauded. We hope that the Archbishop Dolan will expand the program in 2018 to help those abused in the New York Archdiocese by religious order priests, nuns, brothers and lay employees. These groups also worked with NY children under the supervision of the Archbishop.

No other reputable institutional church, private or public school, sports group, youth serving organization, or community center allows one-on-one meetings between adults and children. Why? It’s an invitation for sexual abuse. Why is the LDS church endorsing this horrible practice?

This week, the LDS Church defended conducting one-on-one interviews between high-ranking church officials and 12-to-17-year-old congregation members, saying that "Personal interviews are an important part of ministering to those in a congregation.” In these interviews, many of the adults ask the children about sex, masturbation, and pornography.